Powerhouse forward Greg Bird is dumbfounded by why the "star-studded" Titans enter this weekend's NRL preliminary finals as premiership underdogs.

Following seven wins from their last eight matches, Bird declared the quiet-achieving Gold Coast deserved far more respect and credit going into Friday night's Suncorp Stadium clash with the Sydney Roosters.

But the NSW backrower, one of nine former or current representative players in the Titans' starting 13, said he was more than happy for the Coast to slip under the radar for two more weeks.

"We've got such a star-studded line-up without being given much credit," Bird said.

"Of the top four teams here, we're the underdogs.

"But we like it that way.

"We've slipped under the radar the whole year and hopefully we can slip under the radar all the way through."

With captain Scott Prince in charge of an outfit which also includes the likes of Mat Rogers, Luke Bailey, Anthony Laffranchi, Ashley Harrison and Preston Campbell, Bird said he'd never played at a club where there was such depth of leadership.

While he couldn't understand why St George Illawarra, Wests Tigers and the Roosters were gaining all the plaudits, the Titans' lame 2009 play-off capitulation still remains at the back of the critics' minds.

Gold Coast finished third last season but crashed out of their maiden finals series with back-to-back losses to Brisbane and Parramatta.

Their three Sydney rivals have also gained extra attention through the success of their veteran coaches Wayne Bennett, Tim Sheens and Brian Smith, whose experience dwarfs that of Titans mentor John Cartwright.

Bird, who was 18 when he played in a preliminary final for Cronulla in 2002, said the fledgling club was driven to convert the opportunity and open its premiership account.

"We haven't won a thing, yet," he said.

"The Roosters have been there, done that, the Tigers and St George have all done that so we're really looking forward to getting in there and kicking off the first one."

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